Quantum Genesis Evangelion: Universe B
by MagnumPI459
Summary: Not your average AU fic, Shinji Ikari is transported to an alternative universe in his fight against the 12th angel. A timid Asuka, a Rei who wears her emotions on her sleeve, oh the humanity! Warning EXTREME OOC
1. Chapter 1

Quantum Genesis Evangelion: Universe B

A/N: Hi, this is my first fic, so bear with me. I only started reading fiction on this site in August. I mainly stuck to Eva related stuff. Ever since watching the last episodes and final movies of Eva, I had an idea for a story, mainly because I was dissatisfied with the ending of Eva. Call me naïve, call me a hopeless romantic, but I like happy endings and you can see where Eva doesn't fulfill the requirements for a happy ending. This story is not the original idea I had, the original was a "what if" story which really meant what if things earlier had influenced the main characters to change the story for the better. The story morphed into an OC insert with the new character helping the story change. Half way through I realized it was a Mary Sue like story and I'm trying to "fix" it. The story below is from an idea I got from a Futurama episode. It is an attempt at a comedy, although I know the funny stuff is sparse in this first chapter. Enjoy!

I do not own Neon Genesis Evangelion, but imagine if I did; that would be cool!

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Asuka Langley Soyru was thinking bad things about Shinji Ikari that would make a sailor blush. He had just stood up to her, an action so unlike him. It had all started when Shinji's sync ratio had surpassed Asuka's own. This sudden "growing of a pair" by Shinji was confusing Asuka, she didn't know whether she liked this attitude change in him or not. She often wondered what Shinji would be like if he had total confidence.

She was told to back Shinji up but a snag in her umbilical cable was slowing her down. She heard Shinji mutter, "Are you there, Ayanami, Asuka?"

"Ohhhh! That baka dummkoph!"

Shinji Ikari's mind was racing a mile a minute. He was in completely foreign territory. He had surpassed Asuka in the tests and he had no idea how to deal with her. Before his ascension to the "number one sync ratio pilot," he could play the role of submissive underling that suited him so well, not gaining too much negative attention from Asuka in the process. But now she was directing a great deal of hostility towards him, although he secretly enjoyed any attention from her; a secret that made him blush. He felt terrified of her reactions and yet he was trying to show off, to impress her. He got the impression, however, that Asuka had not appreciated his cocky attitude when deciding who would take point on the assault.

Shinji put his pensive thoughts aside, citing that after the attack he could brood as much as he wanted on how to deal with Asuka, although he couldn't help but think that she hated him before focusing entirely on the battle.

"Are you there?" Shinji whispered as anxious energy started to pulse through his veins. The Angel was just above him and he was having a hard time waiting for Asuka and Rei.

"Fine I'll stop it myself!"

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As soon as Shinji fired his pistol at the Angel, the floating behemoth vanished as if it were never there. Shinji sat there staring in shock, barely registering the shouts issued by Misato, "Shinji under you! Get out of there!"

Shinji looked down and felt his stomach fall into his knees. He was staring at a black shadow, but to him it was a bottomless chasm that radiated mind numbing terror. He froze as he felt the sickening lurch of his Eva begin to sink.

"Wha, what the? A shadow!" Shinji screamed in shock. He fired a few rounds into the shadow to no effect, he was still slowly sinking.

"What the hell is this? This can't be happening!" And then Shinji looked up to see the shadow again, immobilizing with fear him even further. Thousands of ideas were being thought up by Shinji, but in his state of panic none of them were registering as a possible solution. Instinct took over as he began to thrash around in his Eva, like a wounded gazelle in a pit of quicksand. He continued to call out for help and none came.

"Ikari! Get your ass in gear!" screamed Asuka. She continued in her head, "What the hell does he think he is doing, that impatient idiot, this is what happens when you don't wait for my help! I mean what's the point of getting A's on tests but failing in the real world!" As she ran towards Shinji's position, Asuka for the first time in a long while felt the twinge of sadness that usually spurred tears. She had just given thought to the possibility that this could be the end of Shinji Ikari. She immediately threw that thought and especially the corresponding emotions into the far reaches of her subconscious. She had promised herself never to cry again and she wasn't going to break that promise, especially over that spineless wimp they called a pilot. She allowed herself, however, to remain hopeful that he would return unharmed (partly because she wanted to kick his ass for showing off like he did).

Shinji felt a painful fear as his vision lost sight of the blue sky above him. Finally as the last of his Eva was submerged in the Angel all of the shouts of advice and orders from Misato and his fellow pilots went deadly silent. Immediately the klaxon alarm that sounded when the external power supply was severed blared in Shinji's ears. After taking a look through the view screen of his Eva and seeing nothing but a white infinity, Shinji thought calmly (for the first time that day) to himself, "I guess I'll have to switch to minimum life support mode until they can get me out of here."

Just as Shinji was about to shut down main power to his Eva, he felt a shudder run through his Eva. All of a sudden he was jolted into his seat as his Eva was pulled into motion by an unseen force.

"What the…?" Shinji gasped as he could have sworn he saw Eva Unit 01 fly by him. But that was impossible, he was in Unit 01. It couldn't have been a reflection because from the brief glimpse he saw; it was upside down, not corresponding to his position. He soon forgot about seeing himself when he suddenly could see the world he was accustomed to. And apparently he was pretty high up in the sky. To Shinji's horror, that problem was soon disappearing as he was falling like, well like an Eva through the air.

"This is going to hurt," Shinji grimaced as he prepared for the impact.

As soon as Shinji hit the ground he blacked out, though he could have sworn, right before he made contact with the ground, he heard Rei crying. His last thoughts before he slipped out of consciousness were: "That sound is creepy."

Shinji regained awareness and made a mental sigh, "Again, an unfamiliar ceiling, well the number of times I've been here its sort of familiar by now." In Shinji's groggy state hadn't noticed he had three visitors. "Wow, it took me a while to notice them, and I still can't tell who they are; they must of put me on the good stuff," Shinji thought to himself as he passed out again.

When Shinji woke up again, he was noticeably less medicated. So obvious that he was awake, that one of his visitors shrieked, leapt up, and flung her arms around him.

"Rei!" was all Shinji could stammer before his mouth was covered and neck squeezed.

"Oh Shinji! Shinji Shinji Shinji! I'm soooo glad you're all right. I was soooo worried." Rei started to cry into Shinji's neck. Ever since Rei's intitial contact, Shinji's heart monitor started to register a steady increase. By the end of Rei's sentence Shinji's heart was up to 150 beats per minute. An alarm went off to notify anyone near by that the patient was about to enter cardiac arrest.

Rei immediately leapt of Shinji and started to wail, "Oh no! I killed Shinji! Waaaaah!" She leapt back on him and squeezed him harder than she had before. Shinji managed to let loose a gurgle before he fell unconscious yet again.

A certain purple haired Major sighed and said, "Rei, get off him."


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

A/N: Concerning the source of material, this will mostly be based on the TV episodes, but I might draw on the manga (no pun intended) for inspiration. There are a few things that I thought the manga did better than the series in portraying (number one example would be the end result of Shinji's fight with the 13th Angel, I won't spoil it for those who haven't read the manga)

This was the third time Shinji woke up in his hospital bed after the accident with the 12th Angel (i.e. falling flat on his Eva's face from a quarter of a mile in the air). He was about to open his eyes when he remembered a nightmare; He was in the hospital in bed and there had been people there to see him. One of the visitors, who Shinji remembered as Rei, had nearly strangled him to death. "Was she actually trying to smother me or was it a hug?" Shinji contemplated, "She **had** to be trying to kill me because it would be more likely for Rei Ayanami to try to kill me than to hug me." Even though it was a dream, he remembered that himself waking up prompted the murder attempt by Rei, so he slowly opened one of his eyes.

Shinji's blood was suddenly flooded with ice cold adrenaline; looking away from the subject of his terror he could see visually what he felt, his heart monitor was climbing at an astounding rate. Looking back at the blue haired girl he slowly gulped. Rei sat in the chair next to the bed, beaming at the sight of the now conscious Shinji. Shinji noticed she was literally shaking, like she was about to explode, as she managed to squeak, "Good Morning, Shinji!"

Shinji fearfully managed to let out a "Good morning," in return. They continued to stare at each other, Shinji leering at Rei like she was about to pounce on him; Rei gazing at Shinji like she wanted to pounce on him. Finally Rei broke the silence by leaning closer to Shinji and saying "I'm so glad you're all right Shinji. When the angel swallowed you up, I thought I'd never see you again. I was so worried, everyone was; Misato, Asuka, Gendo." Not surprised in hearing Misato's name, Shinji's ears perked when he heard Asuka's but he nearly choked on his tongue when he heard his father's. Rei didn't notice Shinji gagging and continued, "But then you fell out of the sky, which was weird, but I don't care because you're back!"

Shinji continued to watch Rei, as she was still shaking with even more vigor. He finally couldn't take it when she looked like she was in the middle of an epileptic seizure. "Are you alright Rei?" he cautiously asked. Rei who had finally noticed the tremors of her body, replied, "Oh this, it's just that I want to give you a hug," the heart monitor began to beep loudly, "but after my last one the doctors said it wouldn't be a good idea."

Shinji attempting to be polite said, "At least they trusted you enough to let you see me alone."

Rei lowered her head a bit and Shinji noticed her cheeks turn a deep scarlet color. Although Rei had been acting very strange lately, seeing Rei turn this red was mind boggling. In fact, if you could see the place where Shinji kept things he thought he would never see in his brain, there would be the remnants of a mushroom cloud spreading radioactive particles to other parts of the brain that included control of his speech production and control of the jaw muscle ((A/N: 20 bonus points to the first one who can tell me the name of the actual part of the brain that controls speech production)). He had made her blush in the past, but she could never be described as a tomato in those instances. "Not exactly," she answered as she pointed towards the door. Shinji saw a burley orderly standing in the hallway holding a straight jacket. I'm surprised there is only one; it took three of them to drag me of you." At this statement (much to Shinji's astonishment) Rei turned an even deeper red. Shinji glanced back at the orderly who had noticed the attention he had received from the crazy girl and nervously prepared a syringe.

Although Shinji was too perturbed by Rei's behavior to question her about it, he didn't want to see her "medicated" against her will, so he sighed and made her an offer, "You can hold my hand if you want." Rei's face transformed from disheartened to ecstatic, nearly leapt from her chair and grabbed his closest hand with both of hers. Shinji saw the orderly flinch from the sudden movement and prick himself with syringe. The unfortunate soul gave a panicked look around before suddenly becoming more relaxed, so relaxed in fact that he that he fell over so half of his body was not visible in the door way. Shinji refocused on Rei, who had her eyes closed and had stopped vibrating. Shinji, still weirded out, gave a small smile. He wasn't sure if he liked how Rei was acting. While his discomfort about Rei's current actions stemmed from his utter surprise, he was positive that her former behavior of not showing any emotions put him off. And he definitely found her physically attractive. And with this thought, his mind began to wander, until a "certain anatomy" began to rise to attention. In a single instant, Shinji realized two things: 1) he was holding hands with Rei Ayanami and 2) he had some morning wood without it being morning. He almost let out a scream of horror (and knowing Shinji, it would have been a girly, high pitched scream). Luckily, Rei had not noticed the silent gasp of horror, the terrified look on his face, or the tent that was pitched in-between his legs. Quickly repositioning his legs, Shinji as calmly as he could, tried to divert his hentai mind to a new topic; he found one in remembering the memory he had originally thought was a dream. Rei hadn't been the only person in the room, although he figured the fact he remembered at all was a testament to his cognitive skills under extreme duress.

"Rei, when I woke up before, when you 'hugged' me," at the mention of the incident, Rei blushed again, "who was in the room with you?" Before Rei could answer, Shinji saw a doctor run up to the orderly in the hallway, check his pulse and then look into the room occupied by the two Eva pilots. Seeing the blue haired girl prompted the doctor to read his clipboard, and when he got half way through, his face turned a sickly greenish gray. The doctor then looked down at the unconscious orderly with a pool of drool under his face, then quickly back to Rei. He shifted his eyes to Shinji and clearly made the signal that he was going to call for help. Shinji shook his head, but the doctor ran off.

Rei gave a confused look to Shinji. Shinji quickly said, "Oh sorry, I was feeling a little disoriented, but I'm okay now."

"Okay," Rei shrugged as she said, "Yeah, the Major was with me as well as Asuka." Two thoughts went racing through Shinji's head. One was surprisingly that Asuka had come to see him and the other was the doctor he saw was probably coming with an army of orderlies with enough tranquilizers to take down a bull elephant. The latter thought was the more urgent one, not only because he didn't want Rei knocked out, but also the all out brawl would take place in his proximity. As he began to contemplate how to avoid the upcoming pain, Rei unknowingly came up with the solution. "Oh Asuka, I forgot! She wanted to know when you woke up. She was just as worried as I was; the river of tears we produced could have flooded the city. In fact I think she was even more worried than me, if I didn't know any better I'd said she had a thing for you. I should go get her, but I don't want to leave you alone."

Although what Rei had just said should have bewildered Shinji into mumbling gibberish, he got a grip on himself, remembered the alarmed doctor and said, "It's alright Rei, I'll be fine."

"Are you sure?" Rei asked with a tone of worry.

"Oh sure, I'm feeling fine," Shinji replied with his voice cracking in the middle of his sentence when he thought he heard panicked yelling, "I'll be okay, I'm sure of it."

"Okay," she said cheerfully as she rose from the chair. She trotted happily until she reached the orderly. Shinji assumed she would at least look at him, but no, she just skipped over his comatose body. Shinji let a sigh of relief as she turned around the corner. This day was turning into the strangest day of his life since first seeing the Evangelion.

Shinji's mind returned to what Rei had said about Asuka. First of all he was flabbergasted that she was giving him relationship advice; in terms of romance Rei made Shinji look like Casanova. And secondly, she had said Asuka had a thing for him. He scoffed at the idea, the way she treated him alone was all the evidence he needed to disprove the theory. The constant derisions, the physical abuse were clear signs that Asuka hated him. He sighed at this thought, and then moved his mind to earlier that day. How had she reacted to his cheeky remark about "combat being a man's job? " "Chauvinistic piglet" was the exact phrase she had used. That was the last thing he remembered hearing from her before…

"The angel?!" What had happened to the angel? Rei's behavior had distracted him from so many things.

Speaking of distractions, at that moment the doctor returned by sticking his head in the door. Urgently he asked, Have you seen the pilot of Unit 00, she is very unstable at the moment. Which way did she go?" Shinji shrugged. The doctor gave an exasperated sigh and gave a signal. Several orderlies as well as few Section 2 agents carrying what Shinji hoped were tranquilizer guns ran past the doctor, luckily for Rei, in the wrong direction.

As Shinji gave a sigh, his thoughts returned to the day's events. He hadn't even given a single thought to the angel since waking up. He didn't even know if it was destroyed or not. But Shinji's mind couldn't focus solely on the angel. What had happened after he had been, as Rei put it, "swallowed up?" The white void had been bizarre enough. A white infinity, Shinji shivered thinking about it. As Shinji continued to recollect the day's events he brought up the strangest occurrence (other than Rei giving him a hug) to happen; seeing Eva Unit 01 soar by him, when he himself was in Unit 01. He didn't know why, but he knew for a fact that he hadn't seen himself. The direction it came from was a completely different than the direction he felt his own Unit 01 was rocketing in. And when his own Eva was only a few feet away he had gotten the weirdest feeling; weirder than anything he had felt in the Eva. His whole body had tingled like he was electrified.

His thoughts were interrupted by the sound of footsteps, before looking up he thought it could be Asuka and Rei; but no, it was one person and the footsteps were too heavy to be a 14 year old girl. "It must be that damn doctor," Shinji thought, "Listen, I haven't seen her," he continued, but stopped when he looked up. Shinji's body tensed to the point where his fingernails painfully dug into his palms. The man before him, the uniform, the glasses, the only one on the Earth Shinji truly hated.

A/N: That's where I decided to end it. I could have done a little bit more but I think this more dramatic. Today after my classes I had the combination of a lot of free time and a burst of inspiration, so that is why I updated so quickly. Don't expect me to produce chapters this quickly on a regular basis (especially with finals coming up)

Also, I know Rei is and the others will be, but is Shinji OOC. I'm not sure if he is or not. If you write a review, please address this, thanks.

And finally, in writing this chapter I listened to a wide selection of music. It ranged from Franz Von Suppe's Light Calvary Overture to The Beastie Boy's Brass Monkey. Wow, I'm crazy or what!


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

A/N: I noticed that the last chapter was a bit sloppy, so I'll try to slow it down a little.

Also I forgot to say this last time; I don't own Neon Genesis Evangelion, but enjoy!

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Shinji sat in his bed, a cocktail of loathing and fear surging through his body. Shinji's father, Commander Ikari had just walked through the door. Immediately Shinji recalled the day his father abandoned him. Shinji was just a young boy, and Gendo had left him at the train station to be picked up by his relatives. That was the day according Shinji himself, when his life took a turn for the worse.

"Hello son." At first Shinji thought he was hearing things, so he blinked really hard to make sure his eyes weren't deceiving him. It really was his father, and his father had just addressed him as son!

Gendo walked over to the bedside then stopped and looked down with a sorrowful look on his face. He made Shinji jump with shock by suddenly speaking again, "I'm sorry son, this is my fault. I should have sent more test drones against the angel, to see what we were dealing with." Gendo paused, perhaps waiting for Shinji to reply. If Shinji had to save the life of Asuka, Rei, and Misato by uttering a single word at that moment, the three of them would be 6 feet under because Shinji was beyond speechless.

"Is this really my father?" Shinji asked himself, "He's being, kind."

And then his father did something Shinji thought he would never do, he affectionately patted his head, ruffled Shinji's hair in the process. "Its okay Shinji, you don't have to say anything, you should save your strength anyway. Just know this: I love you with all my heart, and if there was any other way to defeat the angels, I would scrap the Eva project in a flash. I told your mother before the accident that if anything happened to her, I would take care of you, and look how you ended up…" Gendo looked away and got up. "I'm glad you're okay, but I have to get going; I'm very busy you know. I just thought it would be nice to see you before I got tangled up at work." Gendo moved towards the door but before exiting turned his head and said, "And Shinji, despite what happened today, you did a good job." And with this Gendo left, having no clue how bewildered he left Shinji Ikari.

Shinji sat staring at the door looking what must of seemed like a cross between a barn owl, a deer in the headlights, and a wide mouthed tree frog all at the same time. Abruptly, Shinji noticed something that broke him out of his trance like state. He looked around and saw what he was looking for, the intercom. He pressed the button and a few seconds later the whiny voice of a nurse answered "Yes?"

Shinji, who was now beet red, replied, "I think I need a new set of sheets please."

20 minutes later the nurse who had come to Shinji's aid left the room clutching the soiled bed sheets muttering angrily something about not getting paid enough. Shinji had tried convincing the nurse he spilt a glass of water, but the lack of an empty cup and the smell emanating from the sheets was all the evidence required by the nurse to throw dirty looks at Shinji.

Now that the nurse was gone and he had a fresh set of sheets, Shinji could focus on the two troubling meetings he had. First Rei Ayanami; she had been waiting for him to wake up. This wasn't the first time she had done this. "She was with me when I woke up after my first sortie against the 5th angel." Shinji thought to himself. "But she didn't nearly strangle me in a hug when I came to; in fact she acted like she always did before. She didn't show any emotion and it barely seemed like she cared about my well being." But now she had, further than Shinji thought possible in the girl. If it had only been Rei, Shinji might have been able to ignore this personality shift; but then his father came into the picture. Shinji had no single memory of his dad showing any affection; hell, he had never called Shinji "son" before. Shinji couldn't understand how, after so many years of neglecting him, his father could act like "father of the year." Something was terribly wrong, and he was going to have to tell Misato about it.

A troubling thought came to mind when he thought about Misato. What if she was different too? If Rei and his father were different, what would stop Misato from being different? Before Shinji could dwell on this disturbing notion he was interrupted by a familiar voice; it was strong like he remembered but different too, soft.

"Shinji? Are you okay?" asked a voice full of worry. Shinji looked up to see the red haired girl he loved and feared at the same time standing in the doorway. Asuka looked almost afraid to come in. Shinji immediately noticed that Asuka too, was acting different, although he choose not to question her about it; there was a risk that she could return to normal and rip him a new one for being a nosy pervert.

"Asuka? Is something the matter?" Shinji asked, also nervously.

"Uh, no Shinji, nothings the matter" Asuka replied walking towards Shinji and pulling up a chair. They both sat in awkward silence, Shinji not knowing what to say. He wanted to ask her so many things, but was afraid because of the potential for a tongue lashing. So he chose to look down at his bed sheets and wait for Asuka to make the first move. He didn't have to wait too long, however."

"Baka!" Shinji actually gave a mental sigh of relief at her outburst. He looked up at Asuka, expecting to see the defiant look he was so used to, but instead was met with a look of nausea. The mental sigh that had been let out by Shinji did a 180 and crammed its way back into his head. So Asuka was acting differently too. "Just because you've always been the top Eva pilot, doesn't mean you have to be cocky when you fight the angels! Today I thought you were gone forever, I thought we would never speak again." The mental sigh back in Shinji's head was now tearing up what remained of his brain. Although he had thought, only moments ago, that anyone could be different, he wasn't prepared for this. Asuka never opened up to anyone, let alone him. She continued, "I know we don't get along because you don't like me, but know that I at least care about what happens to you." At this sentence, Asuka now looked extremely embarrassed. "Sorry Shinji, you must be tired, I'll leave you alone now."

"Wait!" was all Shinji could manage to say before Asuka had left. But she ignored him and now Shinji was alone and almost too overwhelmed to think straight. He adjusted his hospital bed so he could lie down and just sat there staring at the unfamiliar ceiling. Without thinking of anything Shinji almost drifted off to sleep…, but was interrupted by a loud scream

"Stay away from me; I didn't try to kill Shinji!" Shinji barely managed to register the blue flash that ran past his door as Rei, but guessed it was her by the battalion of orderlies and Section 2 agents that followed chase.

"That way, follow her!" was heard by Shinji as the pack made pursuit. "Great, another thing to worry about." Shinji sighed. But immediately the shouts of pursuit became shouts of panic. The mob that had been chasing Rei ran past the door again, but this time, all of them with a considerable look of fear on their faces. It looked like the group hit a choke point in the hallway because the last man in the group had stopped and started to yell "Hurry up she's…" but before he could finish a dart suddenly appeared on the man's back. The Section 2 agent managed to mumble "potato salad" before collapsing. A renewed roar of panic erupted from the group. A few seconds later Rei appeared in the doorway, holding what appeared to be an agents tranquilizer gun. She stopped at the doorway and put her foot on top of the fallen man, like a hunter posing with her kill.

Shinji managed to stutter, "R, Re, Rei, are yyyou alright?"

Rei responded as though she hadn't just knocked out a government agent, "Of course I am Shinji, but why is your voice getting deep?"

Shinji made a confused look on his face, his voice didn't sound any deeper. "What are you talking about, my voice…" but even as he was speaking, Rei's face gave a look of relaxation and she closed her eyes. She collapsed onto her stomach, revealing a dart protruding from her ass. Shinji painfully got out of the bed (he was still hurting from the days injuries) and limped over to Rei. He knelt down, but before he could do anything a disheveled Section 2 agent with a panicked look in his eyes came into the doorway. Before Shinji could say a word the agent fired the tranquilizer gun he was pointing at Shinji. Shinji looked down and saw a dart in his chest. He pulled out and before he slumped to the floor, he thought "This day keeps on going bad from worse… ughhh, potato salad."

A.N: That's chapter 3, in the next installment expect to find out more about the "Shinji version B" that the Shinji we know and love replaced. Also, I think that the whole "alternative universe" thing will be revealed to everyone (I'm not sure though).

Also if anyone cares, I mainly listened to the Eureka 7 OST while writing


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

A/N: Nothing much to say other than read the last chapter if you haven't or the first joke won't make any sense. Also, I don't own Neon Genesis Evangelion. Enjoy.

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Apparently, Shinji was at a picnic. Everyone from NERV was there, Misato, Asuka, Rei, Dr. Akagi, the bridge techs, and even his father. They were all outside at a park, the weather was beautiful and everybody was sitting at a picnic table conversing and laughing.

"Hmmm, this potato salad is delicious." said Misato loudly, rubbing her stomach and grinning.

"Who made this potato salad?" Asuka asked no one in particular, with a mouthful of said salad still in the process of being chewed.

"Shinji, have some potato salad." said Commander Ikari to his son. Shinji stared at him for a second before shouting, "No, I won't eat the potato salad." With this outburst all the picnic goers became deathly silent.

"Why me, why this potato salad" Shinji continued, "You only brought me here to eat this potato salad, why!?"

"Because I have a use for you" Gendo replied, and he proceeded to dump potato salad on Shinji's head, then everyone started to throw potato salad at Shinji until he was buried in it. At this point Shinji opened his eyes and realized he was in a bed and not really submerged in potato salad

(A/N: hopefully that's my last mention of potato salad ever again)

Misato was standing over him, with an unusually stern look on her face.

"Oh Misato, thank God it's you, I had the weirdest set of dreams. The first one, I was at a picnic and I was being buried alive. But before that I was here in this hospital where Rei was acting weird."

"Really," was all Shinji got as an answer.

Shinji continued, "Yeah, she was, what's the right word … yeah, demented. She was crying and laughing and just acting strange. But she wasn't the only one, my father visited me too. He was acting strange too, he was actually nice to me." All through his explanation, Shinji began to realize that he remembered too many details for these events to be a dream and Misato only confirmed this realization.

"I don't know about any picnics, but everything in the hospital really happened. We'll talk about this later; now come on and get up, you've been cleared by Dr. Akagi. We're going home."

Shinji sighed with relief. Even though he had only been in Tokyo 3 for a few months, he saw Misato's apartment as his home, and even with all her flaws, Misato was family to him and he wouldn't change anything about her. Oh, was he in for a surprise.

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Shinji's thoughts as he crossed the threshold of the apartment were focused mainly on Misato's driving.

"She actually followed the rules of the road. My God she actually stopped at red lights, hell she even stopped at the yellow lights too." Shinji couldn't help but feel amazed as he subconsciously made his way to the kitchen. On the way he was unaccustomed to the state of relaxation he was in, never feeling that calm after a ride with Misato.

"Hey Shinji, I know it's my turn to cook, but I really don't feel like it. Could you do it, please?" Misato yelled to Shinji from her room.

"Sure, Misato" Shinji shouted back. He actually didn't mind, as he liked to cook and since coming to Tokyo-3, he had gotten very good. The saying practice makes perfect was proven through Shinji's constant practice of the art. The alternative, that is to let Misato cook, was unacceptable however. The first night after eating her cooking was spent on the toilet; he hadn't got a lot of sleep that night. And after Asuka joined the duo, Shinji was forced to cook even more. For one thing Asuka usually made Shinji cook on nights she was supposed to. But on the few instances when she did cook, she would try to produce elaborate European dishes that usually ended up in the garbage and the occupants of the apartment eating take out silently (not wanting to offend the red headed firecracker).

Shinji opened the refrigerator, looked inside, looked back outside to see what he already had out to use, and did a double take back to the contents of the refrigerator. Replacing the usual assortment of beer was actual food. Glorious and wonderful, fresh food was all Shinji could find. Although he was overjoyed at the thought of fresh ingredients, a tiny part of his brain could help but find this discovery unnerving. "Chalk this up along with Rei, Asuka, and my father's behavior as well as Misato's driving on the weird list." He was going to discuss all these things with Misato tonight.

After Shinji finished preparing dinner, he called Asuka and Misato to the table. Misato came only after a few seconds and explained Asuka wasn't hungry and had already gone to bed. They both sat down and began eating. Although Shinji was normally quiet, Misato was being unusually silent too. Shinji looked up from his food and noticed she had poured a glass of wine for her self. She picked the glass up, twirled it like a professional wine connoisseur, and sipped it elegantly. She then noticed Shinji staring at her.

"Is something wrong Shinji-kun?" Misato was looking at Shinji with the same creeped-out look that Shinji was giving Misato.

Shinji's determination to discover what was going on that had filled him in the kitchen now melted away, replacing it with the everyday cowardice that he was so familiar with. "Uhhh, I see you're drinking wine." Shinji said softly.

"Yeah, I'm drinking wine. I always have some with dinner, they say a glass every day is good for you. Was that all?" Misato replied with a smile.

"She might act differently, but she still is Misato," Shinji thought, feeling his insecurities leave him as she smiled.

"Umm, well, actually there was something else." Shinji said. He was just thinking how weird his thoughts were going to sound out loud. "Everyone is different!"

Misato looked at him with a raised eyebrow. "Please, go on."

Shinji looked at her for a second before continuing, "Well, ever since the angel attack, everyone has been acting really bizarre. Rei by herself was odd enough, she was crying, she was laughing, she gave me a hug; she never does stuff like that."

Misato opened her mouth as if to say something, stopped, then closed it again. Giving more thought to her response, she said (with her eyebrow still raised), "Are you **sure** you're okay, I mean Rei has always been extra emotional. Mind you, we've never had to sedate her before today, but there has never been a more serious Angel attack where you're life has been in such danger."

Shinji stared in shock at Misato. "She must be crazy, absolutely nuts." he thought. "So you're going to tell me Rei has always been so lovey dovey; has my _father_ always been 'dad of the year'?" He said the word "father" with a disgust fit for murderers and traitors.

"Well yes, he has always been a good father. In fact I think he's been too nice to you." At this statement Shinji choked on the water he had been sipping. "It's because of his upraising that you've become…" Misato suddenly looked discouraged, like she stepped over a boundary not meant to be crossed. Shinji just sat there watching Misato, saying nothing, willing her to finish the sentence. Misato stared back at Shinji, apparently surprised that Shinji hadn't said anything yet.

Misato, although unnerved by Shinji's silence, said,"Speaking of people acting different, I've noticed you haven't exactly been the same after the Angel attack either. "

"What, me! You're the one acting strange and you're accusing me of being different."

"Calm down Shinji, I'm not accusing you of being different; I'm just saying I've noticed a few changes. But to be on the safe side, I think Ritsuko should take a closer look at you. I'd take you to her tonight but I know for a fact that she is very busy. I think you can last until tomorrow after school, can't you?"

"I guess," said Shinji dejectedly, returning to his food. After a few minutes of focusing on his tempura, Shinji recalled what Misato had said a moment ago: "It's because of his upraising that you've become…" What was she going to say to him? Curiosity got the better of Shinji and he decided to humor Misato. "Misato. Umm, assuming I'm the one acting differently, how should I be behaving?"

Misato choked on her food. She gave a slightly fearful look before saying, "Oh I don't know, I can just tell that you're acting different."

"Come on Misato, tell me," pleaded Shinji.

"There's nothing to tell Shinji, I'm sorry I brought it up. Let's drop it okay."

"Please Misato!"

"Really Shinji, it was nothing, forget about it."

Shinji, suddenly feeling more courageous, decided to press the issue, "I think you're keeping something from me, please tell me."

"I'm being serious Shinji, please drop it!" Misato said kindly but with force behind it.

"Alright Misato," said Shinji disappointedly. He decided finally that he was done with dinner. Although he could eat more, he didn't want to sit in awkward silence with Misato. He stood up and took his plate to the sink.

"Are you done Shinji?"

"Yes Misato, I wasn't very hungry."

"Okay Shinji, I'll do the dishes since you cooked the meal tonight, its only fair."

Misato missed Shinji tripping over his own feet when she volunteered to do the dishes. "Misato never volunteers to do anything, especially chores." Shinji was so deep in thought he barely noticed that he got to his room. He stopped before opening it. His sign wasn't up. Although at first he had found the sign saying _Little Shin's Room_ irritating, he grew to like it. His room, the smallest in the apartment, had been forced upon him when Asuka had kicked him out of his old room. When she had first arrived at the Katsuragi residence, Asuka had moved all of Shinji's things out of his room. He had been so flabbergasted and intimidated by Asuka's audacity and distracted by the synch training for the fight with the ninth angel that by the time he wanted his room back, there was no point. Everyone was so settled with their arrangements; it would have been a bigger hassle to not only "convince" Asuka to allow it but to actually move back. But at least he got a bed, the only one in Misato's home. Expecting to find his room empty, he quickly turned the knob, not giving a thought to the sounds he heard behind his door.

Shinji froze. Immediately he figured something was wrong. His walls had red and pink wallpaper. He didn't remember having pink and red wallpaper. His floor was littered with underwear of the girl variety. He definitely didn't remember wearing girls' underwear ever. Then instead of producing curiosity, Shinji noticed something that made his stomach drop to his knees. He absolutely didn't remember having a naked red head sitting on his bed, ever; in the history of his life. There staring back at him was Asuka, in all her natural glory; not a single piece of clothing on her. Shinji looked into Asuka's eyes. She was looking back into his with a similar look of shock that he felt. Shinji, now even more terrified than in his first battle with an Angel, let a low moan of horror escape his mouth. However, instead of lashing out at him, causing him the worst pain in his life, Asuka let loose a scream and dove under the covers.

"Eeeeeek, Shinji get out!"

Shinji didn't need to be told twice. He slammed the door and bolted down the hallway. Not knowing where else to go (as his first choice of hiding place was occupied by a birthday suit wearing Asuka) he ripped open the hall closet door and smashed it shut. He slumped down, letting loose a sigh on the way. He was in for it. Asuka was going to kill him. She was going to rip out his skull and beat him to death with it, however physically impossible it seemed. He waited for the sound of his demise to announce his annihilation. He waited for what seemed like hours, but when he checked his watch only 20 minutes had gone by. Every creek of a floor panel sent adrenaline through his veins. When he heard footsteps, he nearly wet himself. It was only Misato though. She was talking to what sounded like Ritsuko on the phone.

"Yeah I'm sure something is up with him. What's different about him? Well for one thing he cooks now! Not only that but he does it well. It was the best meal I've had since you and I went out with Kaji to that fancy place downtown. No, no that's not the only thing that's changed. He hasn't been acting like the spoiled brat that he has been. I swear it's creeping me out. He hasn't yelled at me or Asuka since he's woken up. I asked him to cook dinner when it wasn't his turn; not only did he accept, he did with no complaints. Asuka has finally shown Shinji some backbone and he is actually taking it without a fight. Not only that, the way he carries himself is different too. That signature confidence of his is gone, he barely looks me in the eye when I talk to him, he walks with his shoulders slouched and head hung low. I wouldn't be surprised if his synch scores are going to be lower in the next set of tests. He's terrified of Asuka and Rei. Well I don't blame him for being scared of Rei either, Ritsuko. She was acting _crazier_ than usual. Still it seems like this isn't really Shinji. You're right Ritsuko, the angel could be affecting him somehow, although I doubt it made him dangerous. Another possibility is that he has amnesia; he doesn't seem to remember some key details about his life. That's why I want him to come see you tomorrow; I just wish it could be sooner. I know, I know, you're incredibly busy, sheesh! Listen I know you've got work to do and I need to get to bed early; I've got a feeling its going to be a long day tomorrow. I'll see you tomorrow, talk to you later, bye." Shinji heard a beep as Misato hung up the phone. She wasn't done with the conversation though, "I swear Ritsuko, I think you're slipping; clearing Shinji to leave when something is obviously wrong with him."

Shinji listened to Misato's footsteps as she made her way to her room. So, he was "supposed" to be acting like a jerk. The very thought gave him the willies. If he wasn't so scared of Asuka, he'd find where he was supposed to sleep to think about it some more. But the risk of Asuka roaming the apartment looking for a blood sacrifice for the offense that had been committed was too great. Exhausted by his constant state of panic and alertness, he soon drifted off to an uncomfortable sleep.

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Shinji awoke to a horrible pain in his back and neck. The position he was in wasn't the best for sleeping, His neck was crooked to one side and there was a handle for a vacuum digging into his back. Although it was still very surreal to him, his reality was no longer surprising enough to think he was dreaming every time he woke up. While it **was** strange that Shinji was sleeping in a closet, he could distinctly remember the circumstances that lead to this unusual act. He gulped with nervousness at the coming pain that had red hair and swinging fists. He opened the door slightly, checking the crack of light visible to him. No sign of the Harbinger of Crimson Suffering. He opened the door fully with caution. Shinji checked his watch; it was 7:27 AM. Asuka should be in the middle of a long bath. He made his way to the kitchen and was met with surprising scene of Misato over the stove cooking eggs.

"I see you're finally up sleepy head," Misato said as she heard his footsteps approach. She turned to look at him as he sat down and her cheerful smile dissipated, "Wow, Shinji. You look like you slept in a closet." Shinji chose not to respond. "Did you fall asleep in your clothes?" An irritable grunt was all Shinji chose to respond with. "Someone's grumpy, aren't we?" Misato retorted, her smile returned. Misato set a plate of rice, sausage, and eggs in front of him. It didn't look half bad. Shinji poked it with his chopsticks before eyeing Misato who was watching him.

"What? You've always liked my cooking, what's different?

"Nothing." Shinji picked up a clump of rice, egg, and a piece of sausage and stuck it in his mouth. He had his eyes closed, waiting for that familiar feeling of his gag reflex to greet him good morning, like it did every time Misato decided to cook breakfast (which wasn't often due to either her night shifts at NERV or her alcohol induced coma's she was so fond of). The need to throw up never came as he actually swallowed the food. His eyes widened as he took another bite. He gave Misato the thumbs up.

"Hah! I haven't lost my touch after all. I didn't get a chance for Asuka to confirm my cooking skills though. All she had was some toast dunked in some Miso soup with some fermented soy bean paste on top." Shinji gave Misato a quizzical look. "Oh, Asuka had to get to school early. She left about 30 minutes ago. She said to apologize for not waiting up, but she was apparently in a hurry. Speaking of hurrying up, you should too or you'll be late.

"What?" mumbled Shinji through of a mouthful of food.

"First don't talk with your mouth full of food," scolded Misato, "Second, you'll be late for school." Shinji's eyes widened as he checked his watch. It was 7:39. "Just because you were in the hospital yesterday doesn't mean you'd get to miss school today. What kind of guardian do you think I am?"

Shinji wasn't bothering with listening to Misato at this point, instead he was calculating in his head. "If I take five minutes to bathe, and five to get dressed and leave, I'll have ten minutes to get to school. I'll have to run most of the way but I can still make it." Shinji stood up and said, "Yeah, yeah you're right, I'll be late if I don't hurry." He started walking towards his room but stopped dead in tracks. He didn't want a repeat of yesterday, even if Asuka wasn't here. "Hey Misato," Shinji was going to humor Misato again instead of telling her about last night. "My memory is a little fuzzy, where is my room again?"

"Misato smiled and said, "Oh, it's the big one on the left, in the hallway."

"Thanks!" Shinji ran off to the bathroom first. He decided to only wash his face and put on deodorant to shave some minutes off his bathing time, giving him a little more to get to school. He darted to what used to be his old room, apparently it was his now. He didn't even bother absorbing in his surroundings, he threw open the closet door. There was a little more variety of clothes but the majority was still his school uniforms. He grabbed one and practically jumped in to it. Shinji snatched his bag on the way out, not bothering to look inside.

Shinji was making good time. He had fifteen minutes to get to school, he would be fine. He slowed down his pace to think about yesterday's events. The most troubling event was the white infinity he had been exposed to and the Unit 01 he had seen. He hadn't told anyone about those things yet, he felt like no one would believe him. But he thought about it some more and figured if there was one person to tell it would be Ritsuko. After coming to this conclusion, he was actually looking forward to seeing her after school. He wanted to know what was going on, if he was crazy or if everyone else was. "Hey Shinji, you SOB, how have you been!" Shinji had arrived at school and he turned to look at who shouted at him. He never figured he be addressed in the way he had by the source of the shout.

A/N: Sorry for taking so long, a combination of finals, Xbox 360, Christmas, and no internet connection delayed this fic, so blame them not me. I also tried to make this chapter longer. Instinct told me to end it sooner, but I pushed on. Please review, and feel free to speak your mind. If I find a good piece of advice, I'll try to incorporate it in my next chapter. Peace!


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

A/N: There has been mention of Shinji from Universe B's story in Universe A. Originally I never planned on writing his own distinct story; I thought maybe I'd add him some how into this one. But now I don't feel like it. Maybe I'll write about him after this story is done. Even though I'm writing as it comes, I've got a general direction and plot that I'm going to follow.

I also still don't own Evangelion. Enjoy!

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Shinji looked towards the voice of the person who'd addressed him as an "SOB." Looking at him with a grin was none other than the class representative, Hokari Hikari. Shinji collapsed in fright. After all he'd been through in the past 24 hours: falling a quarter mile in his Eva, nearly having a heart attack due to Rei's hug, and seeing Asuka naked, nothing prepared him for the absolute 180 in character of the class rep.

"Oi! Are you all right over there Shinji?" Hikari ran over to Shinji and grabbed his arm. As she helped to pull him up, Shinji glanced over her uniform. Her sleeves were ripped, she was wearing aviator sun-glasses, and her skirt looked several inches too short. Her signature pig tails were gelled into spikes, dangerously close to poking Shinji as she helped him to his feet. "What's wrong with you, you're acting like Aida on an aircraft carrier, the acting like a little pansy and fainting that is."

Shinji's frail psyche still hadn't recovered yet and all he managed to say was "Ughhh?"

"Come on Shinji, people will think you're not only a jerk, but a weird one as well. Hurry up and move!" And with a force not imagined from the petite girl, Hikari dragged Shinji across the yard and into the school building.

When they reached the interior of the building, the questioning statement, "A jerk?" was all Shinji could muster.

"Well yeah, everyone around here knows not to mess with us, ISN"T THAT RIGHT YOSHI!!!" A rather large boy a couple of grades above Shinji who happened to be walking by flinched when called by Hikari. "Yeah that's right fatty! I'm talking to you big boy!

The "fatty" wasn't really that fat according to Shinji, more like bulky due to large muscles. Shinji, now absolutely terrified said, "No, please don't, he might come over here."

"That would be a good thing. It means I won't have to chase him down later." As a bead of sweat appeared on Shinji's forehead, Hikari shouted at Yoshi (who was now walking very rapidly away), "That's right, walk away; you're lucky I'm busy! But don't think I haven't forgotten about the money you owe me. I swear I'll kick your ass if I don't have it by the end of the week!"

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Shinji was still reeling that apparently his only friend was Hikari the Mace, muscle in the duo that terrorized the school. After questioning her, he discovered that he was the brains of the operation; coming up with schematics of chaos that earned them both the title of "little terrors." He decided to play dumb, blaming the recent battle with the angel for his loss of memory. Shinji, while emotionally slow, wasn't stupid. He knew this was the better option, rather than explaining to Hikari that she was acting strangely and she was **supposed** to be the class rep, goody miss two shoed example of all things good and cute.

They were still walking to class, close to their homeroom. "So Hikari, remind me again, how did you become to be known as 'The Mace?'" Hikari just smiled.

They both walked in class 2-A just as the bells rang. Shinji's face was green, with him wishing he'd never known how Hikari earned her nickname. He could never look at the game of cricket and the male reproductive anatomy in the same way again. Hikari pointed out his desk, which coincidently was the same desk he remembered he sat at. The ancient mummy of a teacher walked in and Shinji noticed movement out of the corner of his eye. Toji Suzahara had stood up.

"Alright class! Stand up! Bow! Be seated!" said Toji quietly. After the last student had taken their seat again, the teacher immediately began his lecture on…surprise! Second Impact!

"I guess there a some things that haven't changed," Shinji thought to himself. "But some things have, I guess I shouldn't be surprised, even though I am, that Toji is the class rep." Suddenly he felt a blow to his head; it was a balled up piece of paper thrown by Hikari. Then Shinji noticed a pool of drool on his desk. She mouthed the words "stop spacing out." He wiped his mouth and returned to his thoughts, "With everyone else acting strange, I shouldn't be surprised at anything. In fact if my father and Rei hadn't been different, I'd be sure that this was a huge practical joke set up by Misato (she always likes to tease me) or Asuka (she always likes to see me squirm)." Shinji lowered his head into his arms. He was suddenly hit by fatigue; he remembered how horrible the previous night had been. He shut his eyes and surrendered to the blissful feeling of relaxation as he fell asleep.

In what seemed like a moment later Shinji was awoken to the shout, "Ikari!" Shinji looked up with a dazed expression on his face into the eyes of his teacher. Immediately he stood up at attention. "That's better Ikari, now can you tell me the answer to the question I asked you just a moment ago?"

"Shinji's mind raced, "What had he been talking about before I fell asleep? Second Impact!" Shinji determined it was better to make a guess than not answer at all. "An asteroid?" Shinji said with doubt.

The entire class erupted in laughter. "Mr. Ikari, I asked you to solve the problem on the board." Shinji looked at the chalk board in horror as his face went red with embarrassment. On it were multiplication problems, not a question about Second Impact. "I've had just about enough of you're shenanigans, I've let this unacceptable behavior go on for far too long. Detention for you young man!

Shinji reeled and absorbed the reality, he was getting a detention! Shinji the meek rule following boy never got into trouble. But now he was going to be spending an afternoon in a room full of juvenile delinquents. He let out a whiny moan at the thought of this horrible idea. Shinji's wallowing in self-pity was cut short by a voice.

"But sir, it isn't Shinji's fault he fell asleep." Shinji's stomach clawed half way up his throat when he realized who had spoken in his defense. Asuka had risen from her seat. "He was in an accident and wasn't able to get much sleep last night."

The teacher looked taken aback for a second at Asuka's outburst, but quickly regained his composure. "That's beside the point; and any way, I won't allow his "special circumstances" to distract my class."

"It doesn't take much to distract us, considering how boring you are," Asuka whispered, although too loudly because the teacher looked like an angry goose ruffling his feathers after the snide remark.

"What was that Soryu?! You think I didn't hear that smart ass comment! If you're so keen on defending Ikari, then spend a detention with him!" Shinji, who had been observing keenly, watched Asuka's face transform from a look of silent defiance to silent terror. She briefly looked in Shinji's direction, but even more quickly looked away, as if the meeting of theirs eyes would bring about the end of the world. Just then the bells signifying lunch rang.

"Don't think math is over, when we get back we'll start learning algebra," the teacher said angrily, "Class dismissed!" Toji again stood up and gave the usual commands the class rep usually gave. Shinji just sat at his seat, not sure what to do. Toji and Kensuke usually ate lunch with him, and he didn't feel right asking Hikari to eat with him. The solution to his dilemma appeared as an aggressive and slightly angry girl.

"Come on and get up or we'll have to chase some losers away from our lunch spot," said Hikari anxiously. "I get really tired of having to run off everyone from the roof. I guess it says we have good taste in spots though."

Shinji didn't have the time to make his lunch in the morning, so he had to stop by the school lunch shop on the way to the roof. So by the time they had made it to the roof, Shinji wasn't really surprised to see two figures sitting by the railing. But when Shinji got closer he recognized the two boys, who he could hear arguing about something.

"I agree, the Eva's are great, but because of them, no new military hardware has been produced in the last ten years. So you realize how much funding the Eva project requires. Most countries GDP's aren't close to coming to half of what it took to build Unit 01 alone." Kensuke Aida stopped speaking when the shadow of Hikari loomed over him menacingly.

"So boys, how many times does it take for you to learn, this is our spot!" said Hikari as she cracked her knuckles. "I swear, you two are as dense as lead."

Toji, who was trembling, spoke up, "Everyone has the right to sit up here not just you Hikari."

"Yeah you're right Suzahara, everyone has the right to sit up here, everyone who likes a black eye that is." Hikari snapped back with confidence.

"Well I talked with the Sensei, and he said Kensuke and I could sit up here no questions asked." Toji retorted unconvincingly.

"That's right; you're a brown-nosing little ass-kisser. I overheard Sensei talking about his car malfunctioning, something about his headlights." Toji who had been trembling with fear suddenly shifted to eagerness as he heard his chance to gain a few more points with his teacher. "Yeah, so Toji you should go to the store and pick up some headlight fluid for him. While you're at it, you should pick up some elbow grease for him, I noticed he was low. About two quarts should do it."

Shinji looked at Hikari with the thought "What's she thinking? Toji can't possibly fall for this," on his mind. He was proven wrong; however, when he heard Toji say, "We've got to go. Come on Kensuke get up." Shinji watched with amazement that Toji was still as dense as lead. "Who does she think she is? Elbow grease? Does she think I'm stupid Kensuke? Let's just get to the store and get some headlight fluid for Sensei."

"Headlight fluid? Elbow grease?" Shinji repeated, still shocked that Hikari used them, and even more shocked that Toji fell for them.

"You like that, huh? I got the idea from some old pre second impact video, it was pretty funny. Come and sit down, or you won't have time to eat that crap they sell here before we have to get back."

Shinji sat down, letting the awkwardness take affect. He had no idea what to say to Hikari, he took a shot in the dark using the recent subject of Toji, "That Toji, he's pretty dense isn't he."

"Yeah, he is, that makes it even weirder that I like him, doesn't it." Hikari must have noticed the look of utter astonishment on Shinji's face because she quickly continued, "Oh I forgot, you've lost some of your memories. Yeah, I told you a couple of weeks back. You were more shocked back then, more than you are now."

Shinji flabbergasted asked, "What do you see in him?"

"Like I said before, even I think it's kinda weird. I don't know I guess it's his compassionate side." Shinji fell over with a crash. "I've gathered he's nice and a loyal guy. What about you, eh?" Hikari elbowed Shinji, who was in the process of swallowing a sandwich, which caused him to choke on said sandwich. "Who do you like? I couldn't get it out of you last time."

Shinji half coughing, half sputtering answered simply "I don't know, no one I guess."

"Funny, that's what you said last time. And that's all I got from you, so I know it's not worth pursuing. I know you're hiding something though, your face is red as Eva Unit 02. Anyways to change the subject, I figured it was about time you got a detention from the old man." Shinji let Hikari do most of the talking at lunch, occasionally inserting a sound of agreement or a clarifying question. They got back to class and Shinji was called to the teacher's desk along with Asuka.

"I'm busy today, so your detentions will be tomorrow after school. That will be all."

Shinji sat down in his seat, his mind on what Hikari had asked him at lunch: Who does Shinji like? Shinji never really thought about it in those terms before. He, being the naïve boy he had always been, never thought about "liking" a girl in the way Hikari had been inquiring. His mind focused on Rei. He looked over to Rei, who was chatting with some people next to her. He stared at her for a second, until she noticed his gaze and gave a cheery smile and a wave. Shinji gave a half hearted smile and waved back. He definitely found Rei physically attractive. He also liked how she was quiet and meek (at least that's how she was before his accident). He didn't like her personality change though, he liked how she acted before. At the same time, her coldness put him off. The way she acted, like she was born two weeks ago, not knowing anything about being a social human being bothered him. Lately she had been warming up to him, which improved his view of her. But he got a feeling about Rei, a familiarity he couldn't put his finger on, almost as if he knew her from a long time ago. This feeling didn't necessarily bother him, but it shifted his feelings for her from romantic to something else.

Then there was Asuka. Shinji was even more confused about her than Rei. Like Rei, he found Asuka physically attractive, especially seeing her naked for the first time the previous night. It seemed he had feelings for her too. But whenever he tried to get closer to her, she lashed out him, which made him withdraw, which made Asuka even angrier with him, which in turn made him withdraw even more.

There were times that Shinji spent with Asuka where he hated her guts so much he wished he could throttle her neck. Those times he absolutely despised her, because of the way she made him feel; like a pathetic worm, not worthy enough to even live let alone get close to her. Those were the times that Shinji felt the worse, like he didn't want to see Asuka ever again.

Then there were the rare occasions that Asuka showed Shinji kindness. This is what drew Shinji to Asuka, the extraordinary event when Shinji was treated like a decent human being by a normal girl. Shinji had never taken crack cocaine, but he knew what it was like to be addicted to something just as strong. No matter how horrible Asuka treated him, the times when she was nice to him made it all worth it. When she was nice to him he could almost forget about the pain the Eva and its surrounding circumstances caused him; it was refreshing.

Shinji thought the weirdest thing though was that deep down he actually liked her personality, and he wouldn't have her any other way. So like Rei, he didn't like her personality shift either. He wasn't sure if he wanted to give up on Asuka, sometimes he didn't think getting closer to her was worth the pain she caused him. Shinji felt truly weary after contemplating his "love life" and thought it was best to leave it be, and not decide on anything. He sighed and focused on the teacher's lecture on algebraic theory.

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The rest of the school day for Shinji was uneventful, besides a few interesting points. First was Toji and Kensuke's late arrival to class. They both entered the class puffing and heaving, like they had sprinted a mile to get there. The teacher yelled at them, especially Toji (being the class rep) as they took there seats. Toji gave Shinji and Hikari a dirty look that possibly could have killed. Shinji felt guilty, but at the same time was a little amused. He could have never imagined Hikari causing Toji to be late for class. The other interesting event in the day was during gym class. They were doing soccer drills, and Rei had been insisting on being Shinji's partner so much, that she didn't notice the soccer ball that was under her foot. When she fell flat on her back, the view of her panties was nearly perfect, so much that Shinji's resulting nosebleed nearly caused him to faint.

Shinji was now walking home alone; normally he would walk with Toji and Kensuke or Asuka. Toji and Kensuke had been scolded for something they thought was his fault and the two weren't keen on fraternizing with him (there was also the fact that they believed him to be the nastiest kid at their school). Asuka was nowhere to be found. He wasn't necessarily avoiding Asuka, but he wasn't seeking her out either. On the other hand, she seemed to be avoiding him. And his new best friend Hikari didn't even live in the same direction that he did. So now he walked alone, looking forward to the upcoming examination with Ritsuko. "I can't believe I'm looking forward to an appointment with Ritsuko," Shinji thought to himself. But he was f&ing tired of all the differences in his life and he wanted to know what was going on.

A/N: So I decided to end this chapter on a more somber note, with what I believe Shinji truly felt in the series. It isn't **exactly** 100, but I think it's true to the characters.

And remember, any suggestions I receive will be seriously considered (I'm not going to promise I'll use every piece of advice/story suggestion I receive) Thanks for reading, and Peace!


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

A/N: I still don't own Neon Genesis Evangelion (although I'm continuing my plans of a hostile takeover of Gainax, not like SEELE's "hostile takeover" of NERV though, more like a business type thing)

Oh and in previous chapters, I've had Shinji refer to Rei as Rei, but now I feel it would be more "in character" for him to refer to her as Ayanami. Nothing terribly important, but I noticed the incongruity and felt like explaining it.

One last thing, I think this story is shifting slightly away from comedy to more drama. I will try to keep it funny though.

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Shinji slid his ID card through the scanner to open the doors to NERV headquarters. It was 4:22 and he needed to be in Ritsuko's office by 4:30. Shinji wasn't worried from what he'd noticed, nothing about the building had changed and he knew he had plenty of time to get there. He was walking very fast down the hallways and when he turned a corner, Shinji collided with an unsuspecting soul.

"Owww, damn it. What the hell is the big idea?"

"Oh, Commander Fuyutsuki, I'm very sorry." Shinji, who was still standing, bowed to the elderly man sprawled on the floor. Shinji remained in the bowed position, waiting for Fuyutsuki to make the next move. An angry old man broke the silence with a bark.

"Well, are you going to help me up or not?"

"Oh, I'm sorry." Shinji jostled into an upright position, extending his hand to the Commander.

"About time you insolent whelp. Now watch where you're going when you're in this headquarters!"

"Yes sir," Shinji mumbled dejectedly.

Fuyutsuki walked off and unbeknown to Shinji, the Vice-Commander continued to speak under his breath, "That little brat, he looks just like that fool Gendo. I never noticed what you saw in him, Yui, but that doesn't matter." With the utterance of this phrase, he pulled of his glove to reveal (only to himself) the Angel Adam's embryonic form grafted onto his palm. "My plans to see you again my love are coming to fruition, and no one, not that idiot Gendo or that stodgy committee has a clue, Bwa Ha Ha Ha!" At this point, his whispers had become a conspicuous shout, but all Shinji noticed was Fuyutsuki laughing manically with his shaking fists in the air.

Shinji, not wanting another scolding shrugged and continued walking, deciding not to inquire into the Vice-Commander's unusual behavior. He continued to Ritsuko's office, thinking about what to tell her, and how in depth his story should be.

"Dr. Akagi? Are you here? Shinji stepped into her office. "What a mess!" Shinji shuttered. It was littered with items you would expect from a woman with doctorates in physics, biology, and computer science. Everything from microscopes to computer chips plagued Shinji's surroundings. The official equipment stood out easily, but it took Shinji a moment to notice one common object that looked like it didn't belong. "BEER CANS?!?!" Piled underneath lab tables and on top of stacks of papers was a collection of beer cans that the Misato Shinji was used to would be jealous of. "This looks like Misato works in here," Shinji said in half disbelief.

"What about Misato?" Ritsuko had just walked in and was setting down a 24 pack of beer and a bottle of some unknown hard liquor Shinji had never seen. Shinji just looked at her, saying nothing, "Well, whatever. Just tell me if she is planning on stopping by," Ritsuko gave a forced smile, "She would have my pension along with half my salary if she saw I'm still consuming "you know what" on the job… hic."

Shinji had plenty of experience of behavior like this from Misato, "Dr. Akagi, are you drunk?"

Clearly not wanting to answer directly, she replied, "Oh Shinji, just call me Ritsuko. And besides, I'm fine. I've learned my lesson from that one time the goat and the mime were involved."

Shinji's fragile mind, not wanting another scarring, decided not to go into that one with a question. Instead he brought the good doctor back to the subject of his tests. "Uhh, Misato was supposed to have set up an appointment with you for me, something about some tests.

"Oh yes, she mentioned some unusual behavior as well as potential amnesia. We're going to give you an MRI first. Then, while we're waiting for the results, I'll give you some personality tests, as well as conduct a small interview with you."

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Shinji had never had an MRI before, but he didn't like it. The small tube he was slid into reminded him of being inside the Eva. After the scan, Ritsuko took him back to her office/lab/open bar and gave him some personality tests. Finally she asked him a few questions, mainly about his past. This is when Shinji decided to tell Ritsuko about what happened to him after the Angel swallowed him up. To Shinji, it seemed like she took it surprisingly well. All she did was look at him interestingly, nod, and scribble furiously on her notepad. All she had told him after they were done was that the results would take a while to interpret and he was free to go.

Shinji, disappointed that nothing was revealed with the tests, walked the halls of NERV with no particular destination. So lost in thought, that it was by total chance he walked by a synch test going in progress. Misato was standing next to the computer terminal with the microphone attached. Sitting next to her was Maya Ibuki and Makako Hyuga.

"The Second Child's synch ratio remains in the low 50's. She should be higher than this level given the number of years she's been a pilot or at least she should be improving. This is pathetic." The technician Maya was speaking to Misato. To Shinji, she sounded different but familiar in a way.

"Well, a pilot's synch ratio is influenced by state of mind. Asuka, can you hear me?"

"Yes, Misato?"

During Asuka's response, Misato noticed Shinji in the doorway and motioned him to come in. "Yeah Asuka, try thinking of a happy thought, something to cheer you up."

"Like what Misato?" replied Asuka wearily.

Misato looked at Shinji and gave a smile that looked like a combination of the Cheshire Cat from Alice in Wonderland and The Joker from Batman, "Well Asuka, imagine that Shinji asked you out on a date." Shinji fell over, half from shock and half from embarrassment.

"Misato! Stop that, it's embarrassing." Asuka said a little too quickly. She followed hesitantly but in a much more cheerful voice, "You don't think he would do that, do you?"

Misato could barely contain her laughter at this point, she managed to get out, "I don't know Asuka, you should ask him, he's right here next to me." Shinji was shaking his head vigorously up until this point, trying to get Misato to stop, but was now distracted by the moan of despair from Asuka.

"Ohh noooo! Misato I hate you!"

Misato was in the middle of a giggle fit when Hyuga said, "The second child's ratio is dropping at a steady pace.

She replied in between giggles, "It doesn't matter, we were done anyways."

Maya uncharacteristically (to Shinji at least) blurted, "Good, I need to practice my guitar. The higher ups," she gave hard, meaningful look to Misato, "seem to schedule me so I don't have any free time."

"Maya you know the Magi plan the staff's work schedule, how many times do I have to tell you."

"I know I know, but doesn't it scare you that we trust so much of our lives to those computers."

Hyuga looked offended at this statement, "Oh Maya, quit being so cynical, you know the Magi are here for our own good. Sempai has made sure of it." When Hyuga mentioned "Sempai" his eyes got a far off dreamy look. "And besides, look at all the good they've done."

Maya got up and muttered, "See you later, technophiles" before walking to the door, waving goodbye and exiting.

Misato asked no one in particular, "What crawled up her ass?"

"I don't know Major Katsuragi, but can I be dismissed? Dr. Akagi," again when Ritsuko was mentioned, Hyuga got a dreamy look in his eyes, "asked me to help her interpret some data from a few tests."

"Yeah, sure Hyuga. You're dismissed."

"Thank you, ma'am." Hyuga got up and saluted and then smiled and waved to Shinji, "See you Shinji."

Shinji waved back as Hyuga left as well.

"So Shinji, did Ritsuko tell you anything we don't know?"

"No, unfortunately. She said the results would take a while to interpret"

"I see," Misato sighed, "Well, there's nothing more we can do here, lets go home."

"Okay, Misato."

Misato picked up a briefcase from a chair, and was about to leave when she abruptly stopped, "Oh, we're going to have to wait for Asuka, she's probably changing right now." Shinji gave Misato an uncomfortable look to which Misato smiled evilly and said, "This is going to be a fun car ride."

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Shinji was standing next to exit of NERV headquarters with nothing in particular to do. He was waiting; Misato had gone to the women's locker room to retrieve Asuka. Shinji looked up when he heard footsteps. Rei had just walked around a corner, and when she saw Shinji the blank expression on her face grew into a bright smile.

"Hiya Shinji."

"Oh Ayanami, hello." Shinji sighed and lowered his head returning it to its previous position, staring at the floor. Rei, not ready to stop talking, frowned before giving Shinji a slight shove.

"Hey Shinji, what's your problem? You've been acting strange lately." Shinji looked at Rei weakly, not wanting to exert him self in explaining that she was wrong and that it was her as well as everyone else was acting "strangely." He just felt tired, tired of being uncomfortable with everyone he thought he knew. Rei returned his look of weakness one of seriousness and a little sadness before speaking again, "I may act a little ditzy sometimes, but I can tell there is something bothering you. Before the Angel attack you would at least talk to me, not nicely sometimes, but you were the first person to not treat me like a freak. I always liked it when you talked to me, even if it was insulting a few times. You were, what I felt at least, my first and only friend. Please, just talk to me now."

Shinji felt touched by Rei's words. He welcomed her openness, not something he was used to from her or anyone around him and was refreshed by it. He felt, for the first time, a willingness to open himself up, like she would understand him. His pensive thoughts were interrupted however by Rei, who now had a puzzled, curious look on her face. She was poking him slightly and then Shinji realized he had a dazed look on his own face and was drooling slightly, being so deep in thought. "Oh sorry, I just wasn't in the mood to talk." Rei gave Shinji a disappointed look. "But you changed my mind."

Rei's expression changed from disappointment to joy as she said, "Oh good, so what's bothering you?"

Shinji may have been more willing to talk, but even he still wasn't sure what was wrong. He sighed before plunging into a conversation with a direction he wasn't sure about, "I'm not sure what's bothering me, Ayanami."

Rei interrupted with a palm to the face (the universal sign of stoppage), "That's got to stop!"

Shinji was confused, "What?"

"Calling me Ayanami, that's got to stop. Call me Rei. You always used to."

"Oh, I'm sorry," said Shinji sheepishly.

"Don't apologize, Shinji. In fact it's kind of polite of you. You originally used my first name, without my consent; but I really don't mind. Now I'm sorry, I interrupted you, please continue."

"Okay Aya…" Rei gave Shinji a stare with a raised eyebrow, "…Rei, I was saying I don't know what's bothering me. I guess the problem is that everyone is acting differently than before the Angel attack."

Rei who looked genuinely interested, asked, "Everyone acting differently, what do you mean?"

"Well for starters, Rei; you, to me, have been acting bizarre. I remember you as a quiet, shy, meek girl." Rei fell over from shock. "You would never go out of your way to talk to someone, let alone show you were concerned about someone. Come to think of it, I wasn't sure if you had emotions, because if you did, you did a good job of hiding them."

"Wow that is weird. I can't imagine acting like that." Rei said with awe.

"That's not even the start of it. The Asuka you and I know now is quiet and cowardly. The Asuka I remember couldn't be more different. She was loud and not afraid to tell someone off. In fact she used to tell me off all the time, I kind of miss it. She was incredibly brave, not worrying at all going against an Angel one on one in an Eva, and she was never afraid of me." Rei was staring at Shinji in amazement, not daring to interrupt. "Misato is acting different too, though not as drastic as you or Asuka. I remember her having more fun, being more relaxed. She also drank more beer than an Irish pub during a soccer game. My friends at school are acting differently, Toji is at least. Hikari is now by best friend but before was at best an acquaintance. My father is acting so strange. He has never showed me love, kindness, or compassion until after the Angel attack."

"What! You remember the commander as unloving and cold." Rei couldn't hold her thoughts to herself any longer. "That is so strange. He has always been caring and considerate to me, as long as I can remember. And since you arrived here, I've noticed that's how he treats you as well."

Shinji nodded, "I know, that's what I'm told, but the way he treated me is as real as you standing in front of me are right now. This is driving me crazy, not knowing whether I or everyone else is right. I sometimes think I'm going nuts, but my memories seem so real. I wonder if I really belong here. I just feel so lost."

Rei gave Shinji a sympathetic look, but before she could respond, the voice of Misato rang throughout the hallway, "Shinji are you ready to go?" Misato was walking with Asuka in tow behind her. "Oh hi Rei, I didn't see you there; you're not trying to kill Shinji again are you?" Rei's face turned redder than a ripe apple before shaking her head and muttering a quiet no. "Oh well, I got Asuka, so we can go Shinji. Goodbye Rei."

Asuka followed Misato out the exit but quickly said, "It was nice seeing you Rei, goodbye."

Shinji was about to say goodbye, when he noticed a downcast look on Rei's face. He thought quickly and in an action that surprised even him asked, "You still live alone, why don't you join us for dinner?"

Shinji hit the nail on the head as Rei immediately started beaming and answered, "Oh yes, I'd love to."

"Okay, come over in about an hour. Well, see you later tonight." Shinji left Rei in the corridor not knowing what had gotten into him. Not only had he invited Rei to dinner but before that he had laid himself bare to her. He did, however, feel better after talking to a pair of sympathetic ears. Shinji turned his attention to what he should make for dinner as he followed Asuka and Misato to the car.

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Shinji and company were back at the apartment, with Shinji in the kitchen preparing dinner. When Shinji had told Misato in the car that he had invited Rei over for dinner, she had said she didn't mind but wished he had asked her first, because she would have to cook more. Then Shinji had offered to cook again. That was when Misato decided to have an involuntary muscle spasm in her arms and almost hit an old lady on the sidewalk. "Two nights in a row!" was what she said instead of what should have been said, "I wonder if that lady is alright, maybe I'll stop and check on her."

Still in the car, Shinji remembered that Rei was a vegetarian. While there had been actual food in the refrigerator the previous night, there was no tofu; an essential ingredient in what he was planning to serve. He had Misato drop him off at a grocery store to pick up the necessary items he needed.

As soon as he arrived with his groceries, he had immediately started cooking; wanting dinner to be ready by the time Rei arrived. He was in his element, so much more than when he piloted the Eva (even though he was pretty good at it). Cooking put him in a different state of mind. The act didn't absolve the problems facing him, but it did push them aside for the time being. He figured that cooking was like playing the cello, concerning the forgetting of worries. A rare smile appeared on his face at this thought. After dinner, he decided to practice his cello. Although the past couple of days seemed like ages, it hadn't been too long ago that he had been playing alone when Asuka came upon him. She had actually praised his playing, a rare thing coming from Asuka; but it actually had been the first compliment of his musical talents. In fact, they really had been the only words of encouragement since coming to Tokyo-3, outside of piloting the Eva. Before, playing the cello was just something to do; but it now it was something more. "Yeah, I will play it tonight."

The doorbell rang, alerting Shinji to Rei's arrival. It was perfect timing, because Shinji had just finished his tofu dish and was pulling it from the oven when chime sounded. He heard Misato answer the door and then shout, "Shinji, how's dinner coming?"

"It just finished, so all I need to do is set the table." Shinji answered from the kitchen as he started to pull plates and utensils from their usual cabinets and drawers.

Shinji had one place setting on each of the square dining table's sides and had sat on the one closest to the kitchen. When Rei came to sit down, without hesitation, moved her plate, chopsticks, and chair over to Shinji's side and sat down next to him, giving him a warm smile. Shinji returned the strong smile with a weak one of his own as well as scoot in the opposite direction. Asuka walked into the dinning room and sat down, completing the party of four that was at Chez Katsuragi. Shinji had discreetly watched her entrance and had noticed a harsh look towards Rei. Puzzled, Shinji rather to inquire about this "look" choose to announce his dish, which he had kept a surprise until now.

"Since you came over, Ayan…, uhh, Rei, I decided to make something I was sure you would enjoy." He removed the foil covering his tofu dish.

Rei stared at the dish before asking, "Is that tofu?"

Shinji, who was actually proud that he had been so prudent, replied with an uncharacteristic confidence, "Yes it is."

A few of seconds of silence hung in the before Rei spoke again, "Shinji…"

"Yes?"

"I don't like Tofu, it makes me gag."

Shinji promptly fell over in shock, remaining on the floor; not wanting to get up from the embarrassment he was experiencing.

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It turned out that not only Rei, but also Asuka and Misato didn't like tofu, and Shinji was only going to eat it because he thought Rei would like it. It had been decided they would order out. Chinese take-out arrived 20 minutes after Misato had ordered it. Shinji's new confidence that had manifested itself by inviting Rei to dinner and announcing his dish with pride was no where to be seen. He chose for the most part to remain quiet, letting Misato and Rei steer and maintain the dinner conversation. It was odd though, while Asuka was quiet mostly, when she did speak it was usually a question aimed at Shinji. The even stranger thing was when this happened; Rei would attempt to gain Shinji's attention with a question of her own. And when Rei was talking to Shinji, Asuka would occasionally interrupt her, in a tone reminiscent to how Shinji remembered her. But for the most part dinner, went smoothly.

After helping with the dishes and then seeing Rei out, Shinji returned to his room to practice his cello. He heard the phone ring when he was just opened the door. He remained still, listening to Misato answer it. After a few seconds of normal speech he heard his guardian loudly say, "Wait a minute say that again." Another second of silence, but it was short lived when Misato shouted, "WHAT THE HELL DO YOU MEAN, A DIFFERENT UNIVERSE!" Another second of silence, then, "WHAAAT!!!" Shinji heard the sound of a small item striking the floor, then a moment later, the louder sound of a Misato sized object hitting the ground.

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A/N: Finally, this chapter is done. While I have waited longer periods of time to update, the number of times I sat down and after a few hours only producing 10 words is embarrassing. It wasn't until after finishing an assignment that took most of the night that I decided I might as stay up and hash it out (Maybe my muse is an insomniac).

I don't like tofu, so sorry if I peeved any of the fans of the soy-product with the tastes of all the characters (if any other characters had been present, they all would have hated it, even Tree-Hugging Doug, the hemp wearing hippie NERV tech that was never introduced in the series.

While it took me several weeks to complete this chapter, the last third is what held me up and was finished in a couple of hours. I listened to The Fratelli's song Flathead (the upbeat rock song from those flashy, new iPod commercials)

And last but not least, if you leave a review and feel the need, please leave some constructive criticism. Thanks and Peace!


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

A/N: Sorry for taking so long to update. I didn't forget about this fic; after all it was my first and you never forget your first… never mind that sounds wrong. Nothing else to say except I don't own Neon Genesis Evangelion or any other highly acclaimed works of fiction (sigh!)

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Shinji ran out of his room, worry for his guardian etched on his face. He bolted from the hallway to the living room. When he emerged from the hallway he noticed Misato lying on the floor face up. The concerned adolescent kneeled beside the fallen woman not sure what to do. "Misato, are you okay?" Shinji got no response.

"Is she alright?"

"Eeek!" Shinji let a loud, emasculating scream loose from his mouth before turning around. "Asuka, you scared me!" Asuka was standing behind Shinji, the same worry on her face that was on his. She was looking at him, as if looking for comfort or a solution in him. Shinji picked up on this, and tried to put up a brave front. "Uh, I don't know, I just got here. "

"What should we do? She could be seriously hurt."

Shinji's first instinct was to put some beer under Misato's nose. He shook is head, trying to think seriously. Asuka might be right, she could be hurt. He thought of people who knew a lot about medicine. Only one person came to mind immediately.

"Asuka, get Misato's cell phone, we need to call Dr. Akagi."

Asuka left to retrieve the phone from Misato's room, leaving Shinji alone with Misato again. Shinji lowered his head imagining his life without Misato.

"Please Misato, please be okay," Shinji said in a choked up voice with tears beginning to form in the corners of his eyes.

"Shinji, I'm touched."

Shinji looked up, and Misato was staring at him. "Ah! Misato, you're awake!" In a brief moment, Shinji bent over and hugged the fallen Major. Shinji being the socially inept kid he was, made the hug a little too long and Misato saw a chance to tease her charge.

She whispered in his ear, "Shinji, if you really want me like this, you should at least get me in the privacy of a bedroom first."

Shinji bolted upright, blushing profusely. "Misato! We were worried! Asuka and I thought you were seriously hurt. She's trying to call Dr Akagi now."

Misato, still on the floor, rubbed her head and said, "That's not a bad idea, I just remembered what we were talking about before I passed out."

Shinji gave Misato a puzzled look and asked, "What were you talking about? I heard you yelling something, was it about me? Did she find something in the tests I took earlier today?"

"Shinji… I think its best if Ritsuko told you herself."

"Told him what?" Asuka had returned with Misato's cell phone in her hand.

"Asuka this doesn't concern you."

"Yes it does Misato, if something is wrong with Shinji, I want to know."

Misato looked at Asuka for a moment, saying nothing before sighing and replying, "Alright, you can come with us, but if the Doctor says you can't listen in, then you won't; you understand?"

"Yes Misato."

"Come on then, we're leaving."

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One quiet and uneventful car ride later, Shinji and company were walking the halls of NERV. It was late at night and the already sparsely populated facility was nearly deserted. Shinji was walking silently behind Misato, with Asuka in the rear. No one spoke a word, the tension was thick in the air. Shinji and Asuka were in the dark, they had no idea what Ritsuko would have to tell them. Shinji was thinking of only the most negative things possible; what if he had cancer? What if his brain was damaged beyond repair? What if…

Shinji did what so many clumsy people do when they are lost in thought and walking at the same time; he tripped over thin air. He stumbled to the ground. He immediately cursed himself for being so klutzy. Then a second later, he felt a bump on his now spread legs. What came next was a shriek and then something heavy falling on top of him. Asuka Langley Soyru was now in a compromising position on top of Shinji Ikari.

"Asuka! I'm sorry…"

No, Shinji it's my fault…"

No really, it was my…"

"Gott, why I am so clumsy…"

"Asuka I was the one who tripped…"

Misato by now had turned around, rolled her eyes, and was now watching this episode of awkwardness. "Would you two get a room."

Shinji had been too preoccupied in apologizing to Asuka to realize the embarrassment he should be feeling, which was now flooding his consciousness. By Asuka's sudden reaction, she had made the same realization. Both of them jumped off each other and rose quickly.

"Geez, you two," Misato paused, sighed and continued, "Never mind, let's get going.

After a few more minutes of silent walking they reached Ritsuko's office. When they stepped inside, Ritsuko was at her desk starting at a computer monitor. Without even looking up she greeted them, "Hello Misato."

Misato gave the office and the empty beer cans littering it a disgusting look and said, "Ritsuko, now's not the time, we have more important things to discuss; but we're going to have a little chat about your choice of beverages as well as your salary later on."

Ritsuko looked up at this, her face whitening, "Oh, I forgot about those, heh heh! Whoops!" She shifted her gaze from Misato to the pair of pilots standing next to her. "I know I said Shinji should be here, but what about her?"

Misato looked at Asuka then back to Ritsuko replying, "What can I say, she insisted. Is it a problem?"

"Not really, as long as she can keep what I tell you a secret, can you Asuka?"

Asuka nodded her head.

"Okay where to start; actually you might want to sit down first."

Shinji looked around, seeing nothing to sit on. Ritsuko seemed to notice this too.

"Hmm, maybe we should move to the mess hall, it should be deserted at this time of night."

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After arriving at the mess hall, and Ritsuko insisting on getting a late night dinner for herself, they all sat down in at a table in the far corner.

"Oh I know you think the food here stinks, Misato; but I have to say the night shift really knows its stuff…"

Misato gave a look that could kill to Ritsuko.

"Uh, right, why you all are here. Really it concerns you Shinji. This all started from the tests I had you take today. Several things stood out. Your personality tests from your induction to NERV and today's were completely at odds with each other. I would say almost opposite results. Going along with that, I compared your brain activity pattern scans from your induction to NERV with the one I took earlier today. While experiences since your induction should of changed the patterns slightly, again the scans showed completely different patterns."

"Then there was your "amnesia." According to you Shinji, your father abandoned you at a young age. Official records show you lived with him until you were 12, with the two of you separating when his duties necessitated he move to Tokyo-3. The official reason for you staying behind was at your own insistence. Then there was that "interesting" story you told me during the interview.; the empty space of whiteness, the alleged spotting of a second Unit 01."

Shinji noticed Misato and Asuka look at him with worry. He felt guilty for not telling them about this himself, but he didn't have the courage at the time to tell them. Ritsuko continued on.

"I would have attributed these accounts to delirium associated with contact with the angel if not for the physical scans I gave you. Before the results from them, I was ready to commit you to the psych ward for counseling. But when I tried to read the scans I gave you, I had trouble interpreting what they meant. First the MRI didn't show any abnormalities in the brain, which there should have been to explain your altered behavior. But the nail that sealed the coffin was the PET scan."

Misato gave Ritsuko a puzzled look. Ritsuko sighed; realizing neither Misato nor the children knew what a PET scan was, "A PET scan involves injecting radioactively tainted glucose into the blood and measuring where it goes in the brain. But the radioactive particles never showed up, leading me to believe something altered the physical structure of the particles. A hunch told me to look at a blood sample taken from Shinji during his latest stay at the hospital. Immediately something was odd. The glass vial looked like it had been corroded slightly. From what I examined the when a cell from Shinji's blood came in contact with any other substance, atomically it would change. Upon further examination, the atoms of Shinji's blood were behaving in ways not physically possible."

"What do you mean Ritsuko? Behaving in ways not physically possible."

"Well Misato, objects, including atoms and sub-atomic particles have to move and interact in certain ways, such are the laws of this universe. The atoms from Shinji's blood sample, and I would hypothesize from Shinji himself, seem to "break" these unbreakable laws. This should be impossible in every way; nothing in this universe can break the laws of the universe. But from what we know from the latest Angel, with its ability to form a Sea of Dirac, a possible alternate universe, as well as your accounts Shinji, the only possible explanation is that, you Shinji are not of this universe."

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Shinji awoke, lying on the ground. It seemed he had fallen out of his chair. The faces of Ritsuko and Asuka were above him, staring at him with worry. Shinji noticed Misato was missing. He groggily asked, "Where is Misato?"

But before he could get a response, he got his answer from a splash of cold water to his face. "Oh Shinji, I didn't see that you were awake; I'm sorry."

Shinji sighed before rising to a sitting position and wiping his wet hair off his face. He suddenly remembered why he was on the ground and apprehension filled his stomach. He was almost too afraid to ask, but he had to, "Dr. Akagi, did you really mean what you said?"

As Misato helped Shinji back into his seat, Ritsuko answered his question, "I'm afraid so Shinji. It's the only way to explain the scan results as well as the discrepancy in your personality tests and memories."

The entire group sat in silence for minutes. Misato finally broke the quiet, "Ritsuko, how is this possible?"

"Well if I fully explained it to you, most of what I say would go over your heads. I'll try to explain it in layman's terms." Ritsuko pulled a coin from her pocket and flipped in the air, catching it as it fell. "Heads or tails?"

Misato spoke out, "Heads."

"Heads it is. There was a 50 chance it could have gone the other way. Essentially if the result was tails instead of heads, while seemingly insignificant, it would affect future events differently. So another universe is created from that fork in decision. But because there are so many possibilities of what could happen from one event; something as small as me coughing to something as large as an asteroid striking the Earth killing us all, an infinite number of universes are created at every moment in time. So there are literally an infinite number of alternate realities to this one. So if the Shinji from this universe and you Shinji were happened to be fighting the same angel at the same time, and you were both pulled into a Sea of Dirac, it is possible for you two to have switched places."

Shinji, while feeling frightened from this turn of events suddenly felt a wave of relief. He wasn't crazy, the experiences of his life had really happened; they weren't delusions of a fractured mind. The people he had grown to care about had not suddenly changed. But with this thought came a wave of despair. "Dr. Akagi, is there any way I can get back, to my universe that is? Not to sound rude, I think you all are fine, but I miss the people I know."

"Well Shinji I sympathize, I really do. But this is all new stuff to me. Before today, the multiverse was just a theory. There have been no ways hypothesized even in bridging the gap between two universes. The only way I could see in getting you back to your universe would be to have another Dirac Sea take you." Shinji's face fell into a look of depression that could darken the mood of the happiest man on Earth. "Oh but Shinji, that doesn't mean I won't try to get you back. It just might take awhile."

Misato interrupted, "Ritsuko, what about our Shinji? How are we going to get him back?" She looked over to the Shinji sitting next to her, "Not that we want to get rid of you, it's just I think we need to restore things back to the way they were."

"Unfortunately Misato, there is nothing we can do concerning our Shinji."

"What! We're just going to leave him stranded!"

"**We** can't do anything. We're going to have to trust in our counterparts from this Shinji's universe." She gave Shinji a nervous look before asking, "Our counterparts are competent, aren't they?"

Shinji felt slightly annoyed, as if the Doctor were insulting his universe, "Yes Dr. Akagi, I believe they are." He added in his own thoughts, "The question is, are you?"

"Even still, we might have to face the fact, that returning both Shinji's to where they belong might prove impossible…"

Ritsuko was interrupted by the sound of Asuka's chair being slid back. The red head had gotten up and was dashing away. Shinji noticed tears coming from her eyes as she ran. Misato called out to her, "Asuka wait!" But to no avail, she slammed through the mess hall doors and entered the maze-like hallways of NERV. Misato turned to Shinji, "I think you should go after her."

"What!?"

"I don't think Asuka wants to hear anything from me or Ritsuko. So I think it would be best for you to talk to her."

"Misato, I don't know what to say. I don't even know what I want said to me, how can I help?"

"Just go, I doubt you'll make her feel any worse."

"But…"

"No arguments; go!"

Defeatedly, Shinji rose from his seat. As he jogged in search of Asuka, he heard the Doctor tell Misato, "I think I'm going to have to tell the commanders about this…"

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Shinji had been walking for a while now, losing himself in the hallways of NERV. He had no idea what he was going to say to Asuka, let alone where she was. She wasn't even the Asuka he knew. That was what was blowing his mind at the moment; the people who he had been interacting with for the past two days weren't the same people he had spent months getting to know. He didn't know what to think; never in the months of fighting giant monsters and piloting a purple biomechanical robot did he think he would ever end up in another universe. He was just about to give up in searching when he heard crying coming from a women's restroom.

He knocked on the door and said, "Asuka, is that you?"

Immediately the crying stopped. Instead Shinji heard a sniffle and then, "Go away!"

Shinji sighed before replying, "Asuka please come out."

"I don't want to talk."

"But I do." This of course was a lie; Shinji was scared to death and there was nothing he wanted to do less than have a heart to heart with this Asuka look alike.

A moment later Shinji was greeted by the door opening and Asuka's slightly red and swollen face. Shinji instinctively took a step back as she exited the bathroom. Even though he realized this wasn't the red headed fireball he knew, he was still expecting to be yelled at or hit. But instead she broke the silence of the hallways, "So, you said you wanted to talk?"

Shinji hadn't thought this far a head; he was still drawing a blank on what to say. Misato had practically ordered him to go to see the distraught pilot. "Uh yeah, I did say that. So, alternate universe, kind of weird don't you think?" The thought "Stupid!" repeated itself over and over through Shinji's head immediately after speaking.

"Uh, yeah it is." There was a pause in the conversation, Asuka sat down on the floor before she continued, "I miss him."

Without thinking, Shinji answered as he sat down as well, "Who?"

A look that clearly said "Are you that stupid?" for a moment replaced the sadness on Asuka's face, "Shinji; not you, I mean the Shinji from this universe."

"Oh." There was a pause as Shinji debated on whether to say what was on his mind, "From the way everyone's been treating me and what they've been saying about "me," I don't see why you would." Asuka gave a puzzled look, so Shinji decided to elaborate, "Well he doesn't seem like a nice person."

Asuka bristled at these words, "He might be rough around the edges, but he isn't that bad. He's incredibly brave and when it counts he thinks about others before himself. He dove into a volcano to save me."

"Oh really?"

Asuka seemed indignant now, "What was that? He really did! Don't you believe me?"

"I'm sorry, I believe you. It's just I did the same thing; during the battle with the 8th Angel, right?"

"Oh… yeah it was."

There was another long pause that interrupted the two, but again Asuka broke the silence.

"Do you think he misses me?"

Shinji's first reaction was to think, "You would know better than me, why ask?" Knowing that she didn't want to hear that, he instead answered with something a little more tactful, "I really don't know." Asuka seemed to deflate in sorrow, so Shinji continued, "But I know I miss Asuka, the Asuka from my universe that is. So my guess would be yes he does."

Asuka cracked a small smile and blushed, "Thanks, I hope he does."

Shinji didn't know what to say so he left it at that. He checked his watch and was shocked to see that it was already after midnight. His stomach let an audible growl loose, signaling he was hungry after the mediocre takeout he had for dinner.

"Hungry Shinji?"

Shinji blushed and replied, "Oh sorry; yes I am."

Asuka got up and said, "Well I am too, lets go back to the cafeteria, maybe we can get some desert

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"Those two broads said to wait for them if you came back, they had to go some where." The scruffy man working the nightshift handed the two pilots a packaged ice cream each, "Here you go, enjoy."

Asuka took hers without question; Shinji took his too but commented, "Sorry for bothering you sir."

The aging man replied with a smile, "Oh no problem young man, to be honest I don't get many people in here this late. It's nice to break the monotony of these long nights. Now you two enjoy your date."

Shinji was halfway turning around before what the man said registered completely, "What!?" The old man gave him a wink and shooed him away. Shinji shrugged and joined Asuka at a table. He started to eat his ice cream quietly but was interrupted by a question.

"So what is it like, your universe?"

"What?"

"Where you come from, what's it like."

"Oh, I don't know, it's very similar to this one I guess. That's why I couldn't distinguish this one."

"Well, there have to be some differences."

Shinji thought for a second before answering, "I guess the only difference is the people. Almost everyone I know acts differently then the people you know."

"How so?"

Shinji actually chuckled a little, to which Asuka asked, "Why are you laughing?"

"Oh, its just Ayanami asked me the same thing earlier today."

"So what did you tell her?"

"Oh just that the Ayanami I know is **very** reserved; she doesn't show any emotion."

"Wow."

"That's nothing, Misato is still a good guardian, but she is a total slob and she drinks too much."

"That sounds like Ritsuko"

"Ritsuko isn't a neat freak, but she is at least professional where I come from. My friends at school weren't bullies, everybody is different (oddly enough except Kensuke)."

"What about me?"

Shinji gulped, he had hoped Asuka wouldn't ask about her counterpart in his universe, "Uh, she's definitely different… umm… definitely interesting."

"Interesting?" Asuka asked.

Shinji gulped again, "She's strong willed and very brave. She can be a little "harsh" but she has her moments."

"What do you mean "she has her moments."

Shinji hadn't been expecting Asuka to inquire further. He was thinking of one of his best memories with Asuka, but at the same time one of the most confusing. He didn't find divulging this memory to this Asuka too pleasing, he had never told anyone about this. But she continued to persist.

"Come on, please! Tell me."

Shinji saw that familiar persistence he knew in his Asuka, and knew it was useless to resist, so he sighed and continued, "Well one night Asuka had come early from a date and caught me playing the cello…"

Asuka cut Shinji off before he could continue, "You play strings?"

"Yeah, I do."

"It's just that I play the violin."

"Oh really, that's interesting, the Asuka I know plays the violin too."

Asuka rolled her eyes, "The Shinji I know **thinks** he can play bass guitar."

"Thinks?"

"Yeah, he thinks he can play well; the reality is he stinks, but no one can tell him. It was relieving to get a decent sleep the last couple of nights."

Shinji laughed for a second with Asuka before she said, "I'm sorry I interrupted you."

"Its okay," Shinji had been hoping she would forget about their conversation and continue to go on the tangent of music, but to no prevail, "she had come home and changed, and then later that night she … she … kissed me."

"What!? You'll have to go into more detail than that."

"Why!?"

"Just do it!"

Shinji was taken aback, this sounded even more like the Asuka he knew. "I don't want to; why do **you** want to know."

Asuka replied, a little less forcefully, "Tell me and I'll tell you why I want to know."

Shinji rolled his eyes, slouched over, and sighed in defeat before continuing, "Well she said she was bored, dared me to do it, and pinched my nose so my breath wouldn't tickle her. Happy?" He looked up to her, his face blushing furiously. But instead of looking amused, Asuka looked shocked as she brought her hand to her mouth. Now it was Shinji's turn to be inquisitive. "What? What's wrong? Why did you want to know so badly?"

Asuka didn't speak for a second, leaving her hand at her mouth. She looked down for a second, apparently in deep thought, then her attention snapped back up; as if she just remembered she was in the middle of a conversation. Her face became as red as Shinji's as she answered him. "One evening, weeks after the 11th Angel, Shinji had been out; I don't know what he had been doing but he came home a lot earlier than usual, so early that I was still practicing my violin."

A shiver went down Shinji's spine as this story started to sound familiar. She continued, "Time went by, and later that night he was teasing me about never kissing anyone. I actually stood up to him this time around and said he probably hadn't either. I don't know why, but he admitted to it. Then, again I don't know why, I said he was too afraid to kiss me. He said he wasn't but asked why he should. I said because there was nothing else to do. So we got real close and as he was closing in, his breath tickled me, so I pinched his nose. And then we did it, not too long because he couldn't breathe. It was lucky actually because Mr. Kaji had just dropped off Misato. I think she suspected something, but she didn't say anything."

Shinji thought over what he heard. While there were some obvious differences, his and Asuka's stories were eerily similar. "What does it mean?" was all he could say before he was interrupted by a shout from across the mess hall.

"Oh good you're both here! I didn't want to look for you both." Misato had come back. She was walking alone, without Ritsuko. Misato seemed to notice the questioning looks on the two pilots faces, "Ritsuko and I had to talk with the Commanders about this situation," she looked meaningfully towards Shinji, "Actually Ritsuko is still with them. She said there wasn't any need to detain you Shinji as long as I kept an eye on you. Even though you aren't from around "here", you're still a human being with rights, and that means you still need to go to school. So off we go, it's late."

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A/N: So there it is, my longest single chapter, as well as the most difficult one to write. Not only did I find the Shinji/Asuka dialogue challenging to write, I'm not too sure Shinji is completely in character all the time. My only defense would be he knows now that these aren't the same people he's used to, so he can act differently around them, doing and saying certain things he wouldn't normally. The reason I obsess over correct characterization is because **the **number one thing I look for in a story here is if the characters stay true (for the most part) to their counterparts from the series.

So this chapter was less about comedy and more about what Asuka B and Shinji B's relationship was like, as well as finally revealing to everyone (especially Shinji) that he's in a different universe (It was getting kind of tiring every time he got surprised when he met someone, am I right?). I'm not sure how long (chapter wise) I want to make this. It/s still up in the air this point.

And again, I'm sorry it took so long to update. I got distracted with a oneshot turned multichapter as well as school, work and life outside Eva. Feel free to leave a review, whether it be constructive or not.

Well, until next time, Peace!


	8. Chapter 8: Interlude

Chapter Interlude

A/N: So there have been several requests/demands for a look into how "Shinji B" is doing in "Universe A." I was planning on writing his story after I finished this one, but I decided to write a preview. I'm not setting anything in stone, but I'm thinking of making this interlude the first chapter in Shinji B's story.

I don't own Evangelion, any of the characters associated with it, and intend to make no profit/gain from this story

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Asuka Langley Soyru was thinking bad things about Shinji Ikari that would make a sailor blush. He had just stood up to her, an action so unlike him. It had all started when Shinji's sync ratio had surpassed Asuka's own. This sudden "growing of a pair" by Shinji was confusing Asuka, she didn't know whether she liked this attitude change in him or not. She often wondered what Shinji would be like if he had total confidence.

She was told to back Shinji up but a snag in her umbilical cable was slowing her down. She heard Shinji mutter, "Are you there, Ayanami, Asuka?"

"Of course I'm not there yet; you know an Eva can't move that fast!" She glared at Unit 01 as she replaced umbilical cables, which would allow her to reach the position assigned to her by Misato. But before she could finish attaching her new power source she heard shots firing.

Immediately, out of the corner of her eye, Asuka noticed the Angel disappear. She looked to where it should have been but her attention was snapped back by Misato's voice over the radio, "Shinji under you! Get out of there!"

Asuka gasped, a rare occurrence for her. But the sight before her warranted it; Eva Unit 01 was sinking into the ground. She heard Shinji scream, "Wha, what the? A shadow!" before starting to shoot at the Angel and flail like a wounded gazelle. The depleted uranium alloy shells had no effect on the shadow and Shinji continued to shout for help, "What the hell is this? This can't be happening!"

Asuka pushed the controls forward to initiate a sprint from her Eva. She shouted at Shinji hoping he would get out on his own, "Ikari! Get your ass in gear!" She continued in her head, "What's the point of getting A's on tests but failing in the real world?"

Shinji continued to scream in terror, heard over the radio by Asuka. She wasn't even halfway to him when an even more disturbing sound met her ears; silence. She stopped her Eva as she observed the purple hand of Unit 01 disappear from sight. Her breath shortened as the realization that she might never see Shinji again crossed her mind. It was a miracle she heard Dr Akagi tell her, "Asuka, watch the street!"

She looked down in horror as the ground blackened. Asuka's quick reflexes from the years of training she underwent prompted her to jump onto the building next to her. Using her progressive axe and knife, she climbed to the top of the building. The sight before her was breathtaking; the entire city was sinking into the ground like it was quicksand. She heard Misato give the order to retreat but before she could refuse the building she was standing on shuttered as it stopped sinking.

The entire city had stopped sinking. Asuka maneuvered her Eva to look over the edge of her building. The shadow was gone. "What's going on? Where's the Ange…"

Asuka was interrupted by the NERV tech Hyuga shouting over the radio, "I'm detecting a pattern blue, the Angel is above the city!"

Asuka looked up to what looked like a gigantic black disc floating half a mile in the sky. The Angel hung there motionless for several seconds before it rippled. It contorted and twisted and it let out a loud screech. Then something hard to make out fell out before the Angel disappeared. With the Angel gone, it was clear to Asuka that the object falling at an alarming rate was Unit 01. Asuka watched the purple Eva as it impacted the ground feet first, a loud scream coming from its cockpit, "God Dammit to Hell!!!! That hurt!"

Over the intercom Asuka heard Misato ask, "Shinji are you okay?"

Immediately anyone with an ear piece installed that was listening was deafened by the response, "WHAT THE HELL KIND OF QUESTION IS THAT!! I just fell from the God damn sky you moron, of course I'm not okay." GET A MED TEAM OVER HERE NOW!!!"

Asuka was stunned. She was unprepared for the verbal onslaught brought by Shinji and even though it wasn't directed at her, she actually shrunk back into her seat. What had gotten into Shinji? Asuka was lost in her thoughts and was only brought back to reality by the voice of Misato coming through on the radio, "Asuka, Asuka… Asuka!"

"Oh… what is it Misato?"

"Asuka, with the damage to the city as extensive as it is, we won't be able to recover Shinji on the surface, so you'll need to move his Eva to an elevator. Oh and be gentle, I think the pain from his injuries is _affecting_him somehow."

"Roger Misato, will do." Asuka began to maneuver her Eva towards Shinji's, which started with getting off the building she was perched atop. "That idiot Shinji better not give me any attitude just because he's hurt," Asuka thought to herself as she approached Unit 01, "or he'll regret it in the worst way."

"Hey Asuka, what's going on, where's that damn med team?" Shinji asked over the Eva to Eva line. Asuka was taken aback, it wasn't natural for Shinji to initiate a conversation and the tone in his voice seemed different. It radiated confidence.

"Hey Asuka, are you deaf, what taking them so long?" Shinji asked, more demandingly this time.

"There's too much damage to the surface of the city for a team to reach you, so I have to move your Eva to an elevator."

"Okay Asuka, but be careful, I think my legs are broken."

"How can he sound so reserved with his legs broken?" Asuka thought to her self as she steered her Eva so she could grab under Unit 01's arms, to drag him. She began to do so in silence, moving slowly not only because she was trying to be sensitive to Shinji's injuries, but the mech she hauling was 100's of tons. She momentarily lost her footing and in doing so jerked Unit 01.

"Hey watch it bitch! That hurt." Shinji's indignant expression changed to one of confusion on the screen as Asuka gave him a look that could kill. She jerked Unit 01 again, this time never losing her balance. "Ow, stop it, that hurts you idiot!" Again another jerk, "Stop it you stupid bitch, that fucking hurts!"

Another jerk, "Demon!"

Another jerk, "Slut!"

A kick to Unit 01's legs… and nothing. Shinji didn't respond this time, and from the view screen it appeared that he had passed out from the pain.

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A/N: So that's it, a look at the Eva-verse we know and love at the same time Chapter 1 is going on. A short one at that, but I didn't want to write a long chapter, that's going to happen when I write Quantum Genesis Evangelion: Universe A. So read, review and peace!


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